Kevin Feige Hints at ‘The Avengers’ Mystery Villains

Published 3 years ago
by
Sandy Schaefer
, Updated July 31st, 2013 at 10:30 am,

Speculation about who exactly Loki (Tom Hiddleston) recruits to serve as his army in The Avengers has literally been ongoing for years now.

Everything from recurring rumors to images from abandoned video game tie-ins have pointed to the culprits being extraterrestrials that are all-too-familiar to hardcore Marvel comic books fans. Similarly, a previously-unveiled Avengers toyline press release seemingly revealed that another recognizable antagonist could also be making an appearance in the film.

President of Marvel Studios production Kevin Feige recently set the record straight (or did he?) during a talk with Empire Magazine. It goes without saying: if you do not want to be spoiled about who is, and who is NOT going to be teaming up with Loki in The Avengers, STOP READING NOW.

Which he then says…. “The identity of the alien race is not impactful.”

So it could just be hire an alien army….

So (taken from Wiki):

The Badoon (first seen in Silver Surfer #2)
The Beyonders (first referenced in Marvel Two-in-One #63)
The Brood (first seen in Uncanny X-Men #155)
The Celestials (first seen in The Eternals #1)
The Dire Wraiths (first seen in Rom the Spaceknight #1)
The Evolutionaries (first seen in X-Men Giant-size #1)
The Kree (first mentioned in Fantastic Four #64)
The Phalanx in Uncanny X-Men #312
The Rigellians (first seen in true form in Thor #130)
The Shi’ar (first seen in X-Men #97)
The Skrulls (first seen in Fantastic Four #2)
The Symbiotes (first seen in Secret Wars crossover #8)
The Space Phantoms (first seen in Avengers #2)
The Technarchy (first seen in New Mutants #18)
The Watchers (first seen, in the form of Uatu, in Fantastic Four #13)

These all the well knowns, others are just to long to list. Also this does not cover the Ultimate U.

Why does he want to hide it if it is not setting something up? Again hat tip to other directors etc. that just flat out tell or flat tell they are not telling.

Thing with that list and anything new they might want to use is that some of this stuff is obscure. Either you have to be a collector from 20-30 years ago to know some of these character races, or be up on the Ultimate Universe stuff to know the new stuff. I don’t know how many holdouts from the 80′s or 90′s still collect, nor do I know how up on the history newer fans are.

It has to be something at least recognizable by enough comic books fans to be able to explain it to any non-fans they might drag along to the movie. As much debate goes on about making these movies too much like what comic book fans want or expect, it seems to be forgotten that sometimes it’s the comic book fan that promotes these movies to friends/family and kind of force them to go see them. If the person who is supposed to be “in the know” can’t explain what is going on, the casual viewer will really just tune the whole experience out. It’s kind of like having a tour guide who doesn’t know something isn’t where it used to be….

You forgot to add the Inhumans (it’s possible IMO) — Marvel is planning on doing a movie about em in the future…
Other possibilities for Loki’s army could also be the Atlanteans (a newer, re-envisioned version), the Chitauri (technically also Skrulls, but still uniquely original in their own way), etc.

But what we should just keep in mind is that whoever this army is will have the following characteristics:
- They have advanced weaponry (golden laser-guns and golden air-craft)… so it won’t be Frost Giants or Dark Elves
- They are quite large in size while still resembling human-shape (hence the need for mo-cap suits)… that rules out HYDRA or AIM (or any “earthly” army IMO)

Ack! My head is spinning now — Way too many things going on at the same time

The Chitauri has and always will be my choice. They still fit all the criteria and are outcast renegades for hire. They will also be willing to work for someone else unlike the Skrulls or Kree who would NEVER kowtow to the likes of Loki (both are too damn proud and arrogant)

Possible… but I doubt it.
As a fan, I wouldn’t be too happy if all this hype ended up being AIM, ye know what I mean?
Also, I’m pretty sure it’s some sort of alien race because Hiddleston mentioned Loki making deals with so shady people on his travels through the universe, and Feige also said, just now, that the alien race’s name isn’t “impactful”…
Dunno, I’m so frustrated now… I managed to stay relatively calm this whole time, but now Feige’s messing with my head man!

The thing is though when Cap and Thor were fighting (those are the only ones we see fighting the mocaps right?) it does not mean they were fighting the main antagonist army. (checked the faces are not covered….)

Meaning it could be just one of those scenes where the heroes meet battling a common foe.

I find it curious that those are the only two we have seen really fighting anything so to speak.

only loki as a villain were boring,either his performance was brilliant,but a second time only him isn´t that exciting. maybee the hydra will be there without r.skull ,but with another leader,like in the animation-movie -the ultimate avengers-.

Lol It seems that everybody was pretty much wrong then. Not sure if they is good or not. I’m dure the general public won’t care.. Villains are villains, unfortunate its notthe skrull as I had gotten used to the idea though, as long as whomever shows up in the film, are properlly executed I’m fine with it. @Aknot which of these groups are relatively o human proportions? Set pics do show enemy tech that could be handled by humanoid being more of less our size-ish… As much as a 4000 ft celetial would be fun to see I doubt it lol. Either it will be a “throwaway” alien race (not majors more like cannon fodder) or the enemy is actually a terrestrial one.. AIM etc… Or a combination or both (most likely).

lol, you are totally right one would think if it’s AIM or Hydra or even Atlantis (as some have speculated in posts) then I’d think sheild would know or them. Especially the first two groups. Atlantis or Inhumans seem like a longshot to the point were I’d be very surprised if that were the case. Skrulls prob fit best right now, especially if u just use em as a generic army, he said they’re not doing the kree-skrull war doesn’t mean they won’t use one of those races. In any case don’t think the villain army will get much back story as he focus will be on sheild, the avengers and their internal confilcts so they might end up being pretty one dimensional.

and the one,will be hulk,you know the film has maybee a playtime of 2.30hours and in that time they learn each other,and must build the av-team,then they search for bruce banner,meanwhile loki attacks shield but lost this first battle and comes in shield-prison,we are now at 1.30 hours,banner gets found and then loki gets him under controll,the hulk breaks out and gets loki free,we are now at 2 hours playtime,we´re coming to the end,a big battle between avengers vs hulk and loki,they destroy half of the city,but at least the avengers bring hulk under controll and together they beat loki! lights on.

Feige contradicting himself there (“Who said they were aliens?” followed by “The identity of the alien race is not impactful.”) makes me think that he was being ~playful~ with the truth… (i.e. I’m not believing everything that he’s saying).

Although, I was sure the Red Skull wouldn’t be in THIS movie (so no surprises there from my side) and I’ve always been a little skeptical of it being the Skrulls (seems too obvious), BUT it might very well be the Skrulls… OR the Kree, Atlanteans, Inhumans, etc.
Thankfully we have less than 100 days till we find out

I just hope we won’t some crappy, generic aliens that have no real back-story in the Marvel U.

How is one person an “army”? (Unless if you meant to say Kang and his minions?)
But even so, this movie is gonna be crazy enough… there’s NO WAY they’d mix it up with a time-traveling conqueror: that would just be too much IMO.

Agreed, I like what FilmFan said about the Leader and his army, mostly because of the ending of TIH, and that we heard nothing about him in future marvel movies.

If there are no aliens (Kree, Skrulls, Thanos, etc…) Then I hope for, in no order,
Leader
Namor (remember the map of the world at the end of IM2?)
Onslaught (I know that Marvel would have to have the Xmen and everyone else too, but let a guy dream )
A.I.M. (the advanced weapons would make sense)
The Serpent Society…

No Masters of Evil (YET) and no Ultron until Hank Pym gets introduced.

I THINK I GOT IT! Okay if you believe what feige says i believe the most logicial conclusion is the frost giants (possibly with advanced tech from asgard)…they attacked earth in thor, they realize the power of the cubes, want to rule the realms, and will most likely look to loki as a leader since he is a frost giant (provided they dont know he tried to wipe out the whole race)….plus they need no introduction or depth of backstory in an already character over-packed movie

i forget to mention their king is dead and loki could easily convince them it was asgard and they need to attack earth to get the cube so they could have their revenge…i mean you have to admit that story fits together pretty easily.

only a few of them went to asgard..the rest of the frost giants have no idea what happened..and loki is more than capable of lying to them and saying it was asgard and inciting an all-out war. They would attack earth simply to get the cube

While I really wished they would have used the Ultron storyline, there needs to be significant set-up to make this happen not to mention it would have nothing to do with Loki.

With any luck the Ultron story arc will be explored in Avengers 2. Would be an excellent way to keep things “local” (no need to roam the galaxy for threats when you have a sentient rogue robot in your backyard bent on world domination) plus it would add the Vision to the group (be the end of the movie of course)

A bunch of automatons does sound plausible, maybe they avoiding having to do a whole back-story/origin for a whole race of aliens at this point. Having to get the team together (the Hulk in particular) will be enough to handle script-wise.

And if you look at the psychology of these types of movies they usually tend to go with the faceless, expendable, anonymous villain army. It’s kind of like Star Wars, nobody cared about Storm Troopers when they though they were robots (them being clones didn’t matter much either).

It seems more and more likely that the villains Thor and Cap were fighting in the captured production pictures (where the stunt men were wearing motion capture suits) were indeed Front Giants.

The Frost Giants do not know that Loki betrayed and killed King Laufey. What they do know is that Asgrad attacked their planet after their king was killed in Asgard. (They do not know it was Loki doing that either) We all know that Loki is a master manipulator. How easy would it be for him to spin a tell of Asgardians killing King Laufey and then attacking Jotunheim when the Frost Giants are none the wiser. Loki simply has to blame the Asgardians for all of this, and then rally the Frost Giants behind him claiming retaliation for the loss of their king and the attack on their planet.

Some of you have posted the fight scene between Thor and Captain America as evidence that the Skrull or Chitauri are using the shape shifting abilities. I think it is more likely that Thor and Cap come into a brief conflict either during Thor’s immediate return to Earth (where he may be disoriented) or while under some manipulation from Loki. (Perhaps Loki is making Cap look like a Frost Giant to Thor or something)

Think about this. The Bifrost could still be under repair in the Avengers. SHIELD discovers this massive threat, and they know they need Thor’s help. Using some king of research by Jane Foster or whoever, they are able to rip Thor out of Asgard and bring him to Earth. Think about how that would look to Thor if Cap was the first person there to meet him. Thor would be pretty damn cranky.

I am pretty convinced it is the Frost Giants, and that doesn’t bother me at all. My biggest concern for this movie is how complex and convoluted it has the potential to be with so many characters. By using the Front Giants, it keeps things simple because they already have a back story and a motivation for following Loki and attacking with him. In my opinion, the simpler the better.

But again why open it to Midgard? If Loki has the cube and is working with the Giants (they are not that dumb) who want to attack Asgard, why not have Loki poof there and then poof to Asgard if that is their intended target as stated by suprmn4105 above.

The above poster (suprmn4105) is blaming Asgard and wanting the Giants to attack Asgard. So in order to win they need the cube.

All I’m looking for is a decent catalyst for the attack on Earth/Midgard….

Thor is not there. The Giants want to attack Asgard. I just dont see the reason (at this time) for it. Especially based on suprmn4105 write up.

The only other angle I can think of is Midgard is like a ‘pet’ to the Asgardians and Loki suggest to the Giants they hit them there first… but still …

I heard Hiddleston say in a interview he basicly wants to rule midgard b\c Thor is heir to thrown in asgard so therefore he wants his own realm to rule as well.It’s actually just a sibling rivalry when it comes down to it.

Found the one (yet to hear it all):
Loki brings the battle to Earth because he thinks that under one rule there will be no war, there is also a jealousy that Thor has this kingdom, and Loki wants to make it his own kingdom.

That tech has me stumped. Thinking feign is just trying to cover the scent so to speak. He states they arent building up or introducing the kree-skrull war BUT it doesnt mean they wont still use one of those races. Simplifies their origin/motives, they play a more or less one dimensional villain led by Loki.

Im not sure if it Frost Giants but I do believe its gonna be an “army” with a simple origin so that the focus remains on group.

As for Thor and Cap fighting, I think that is some point after their first team battle together and they didnt mesh well. There is a pic on the net with IronMan in the same woods with battle damage armor. I figure they are punching it out since Thor can only express emmotion in the physical sense.

When I think army I think thousands upon thousands of soldiers, a massive armada of ships etc… Independence day type stuff but now thinking the “army” might not be that big at all. Idk Im not getting invasion at all, yes a big threat is coming but…

When I think army I think thousands upon thousands of soldiers, a massive armada of ships etc… Independence day type stuff but now thinking the army might not be that big at all. Idk Im not getting invasion at all, yes a big threat is coming but…

LOL at some of these comments. I am glad they have us all still guessing on who this army is. I dont think the studio can keep in on lock down till the movie comes out but good on them for keeping everyone in the dark thus far.

The simplest explanation is usually the right one.. Sigh.. Frost giants does make the most sense though the enemy tech from set pics does contradict them being the only villains (unless as stated in a post they manage to obtain asgardian tech). Agree with post that the villain “army” will be a generic one as their backstory will most likely be pretty minimal (so either something we’ve already seen or a minor group in the comics that don’t tie into anything else that are more or less used as an obstacle for the new team.. Basically a one dimentional foe). Might be a few surprises or more recognisable characters but the movie’s focus is on the avengers themselves and their internal conflict, there no point in introducing a new enemy that requires their backstory being fleshed out.

On the Other hand, the whole build up with every scene involving Nick Fury thus far is that “something big is coming” and that’s why they need to assemble this team. Why would they build up this menace to be something new that no one is even familiar with?

We’re all forgetting that the Hulk is still an uncontrollable monster at this point in the movie universe. If this movie simply offers a quick fix for that problem and washes over it then I’m going to be annoyed.

On the other hand, I find it very curious how downplayed the Hulk’s role has been in all previews and interviews…

At the end of Iron Man 2, we see a world map with red location markers on it that signified hotspots. One marker was in the Southwest U.S. for the Thor situation, one in Virginia for the Hulk situation, and one in the arctic for Captain America. There were also location markers in Africa (Wakanda?) and one in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean(Atlantis?). Since Namor played a part in the return of Captain America in the original comics, I’m thinking that the clues are pointing to an invasion from Atlantis. They have the tech and it wouldn’t be beyond Loki and Namor to collaborate with one another.

that would be a dream,too good,that this could be truth. but i ´ve found namor always cool,they should make a namor and a black panter,and daredevil with kingpin as the villain. i´m not so interested in a black widow or hawkeye movie.

he’s prob just deny rumours just to hype things up even more. there is a safe bet that he gave away everything but disguised it as a ‘i’m not telling you that there are aliens and red skull in this’ kind of way. if the avengers game that got shot down is anything to go by, the skrull will be present and they will look the same but with more high tech looking suits, they will also come in different shapes and sizes (though i think this is only a game feature for variety and maybe not something from the movie).

i really look forward to this, way more the gravel voice part3 (aka batman) b/c the main cast are all amazing (as marvel characters) and i cant wait to see the banter between them all (like in the comics).

I called it from the beginning… “Loki’s army” will be the Frost Giants. To humans like Steve Rogers and Tony Stark they would be referred to as aliens, Loki would be able to control them with the cosmic cube + supply them with weaponry. And as for why they’re CGI as supposed to practical suits? Well, simple. It costs less and takes less time.

RD J’s comment, “if we can’t protect the Earth we can D**n well avenge it” doesn’t sound like a comment he would make against a terrestrial threat like the Atlanteans even if led by Loki. Really leads one to believe that they’re dealing with an extraterrestrial threat. I agree the Atlanteans and Namor would be an awesome way to go but who would be playing Namor that we know is attached to the movie at this point? Surprise cameo by Zachary Quinto as Namor.. OK I kid, but really who?? They’d need a really good actor and anyone with any caliber would want to be a headliner…

I think if it were the Frost Giants it would not be so hush-hush. And I back what The Avengers said I’d be really dissapointed if it were them. Imo they should have been bigger didn’t strike me as “Giants” Shoulda been real big.